


let me down

by kaithartic (bluedreaming)



Series: A Primer for the Small Weird Loves [2]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-03-30 12:49:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3937396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluedreaming/pseuds/kaithartic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lu Han keeps his heart safe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	let me down

**Author's Note:**

> **Warnings:** blood and major character death and magical realism and weirdness involving internal body parts being external and behaving in unorthodox ways

Home is where the heart is. Lu Han keeps his in his bag, where he can keep it safe from snooping neighbours and still pull it out to stroke its smooth surface on the subway.

"You love me, don't you."

It's not a question and the heart beats quicker in response.

He smiles and closes the leather flap.

Kyungsoo is the unsmiling student who works at the checkout counter. Lu Han approves; emotions make the heart beat faster and he's afraid the secret in his bag will be discovered.

"I'll keep you safe," he promises the heart, gently stroking the slickness of the valves.

Kyungsoo doesn't look at him as he rings up the bill.

"Fifty dollars."

Lu Han counts out the exact amount in five dollar bills. Five is a good number. Seven would be better but unfortunately no one seems to agree. The heart beats lightly in agreement.

They like to walk at night along the river. It's cool and even though the heart can't go out, it still remembers earlier days, breezes ticking a face, the faintly sour smell of stagnant water in summer. It beats sadly and Lu Han has to remind it that things are still pretty good now. "We have to stay positive."

He's being positive when he crosses the street the next morning, heart in its bag tucked protectively under one arm, a song on his lips. The last note is stilling ringing in the air as a black sedan whips around the corner, twenty kilometres over the speed limit, and for a brief moment Lu Han can fly.

Before the ground reminds him harshly that he can't.

There's a humming in his ears as the sirens come in and out of focus. Something is spotting his vision and he can't feel anything except the terrified beating of the heart in its bag. 

"Shhh," he lies soothingly, "everything will be okay."

His hands are red and no matter how hard he tries to wipe them off, more appears.

xxx

There's a small commotion when the victim of a recent car accident is discovered with a human heart in his bag. The heart is whisked away out of the public eye and everyone forgets about the issue; the coroner keeps the fact that it's still beating quiet.

A few days later a local landlord reports finding a boy in an abandoned flat. He doesn't have a heart.

The body is cremated and the issue buried. No one connects the boy to the heart, or realizes that the latter's mysterious beating stops when the flames fill the cremation chamber.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for [shiritori](http://writetomyheart.livejournal.com/222048.html).  
> Former comments [here](http://theblueintheday.livejournal.com/16345.html).


End file.
